Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest (6 March 1784 – 4 June 1838) was a French zoologist and author.

[1] Desmarest was a disciple of Georges Cuvier and Alexandre Brongniart, and in 1815, he succeeded Pierre André Latreille to the professorship of zoology at the École nationale vétérinaire d'Alfort.

He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1819[2] and to the Académie Nationale de Médecine in 1820.

Prior to his time, it was common practice to give only a genus name to a new animal.

The brown algae Desmarestia is named in honour of Desmarest,[4] as well as the family (Desmarestiaceae) — and in turn, the order (Desmarestiales) — of which the genus is the type species.